EAST Lothian Council has paid out more than £10,000 to motorists whose vehicles were damaged by bin lorries in the last five years.

The local authority has handed out more than £8,505 in compensation and repair costs to drivers, and covered £1,600 charged by vehicle hire firms, used by anyone whose car or van was off the road for any length of time.

The figures were revealed by the council in a Freedom of Information request.

But while the amount might seem high, the costs over the last five years were nothing compared to 2008/09, when the council paid out a staggering £8,707 in just 12 months.

Last year, the council paid £1,734 to drivers whose vehicles had been damaged.

A spokeswoman for the local authority said the amount of damage claims was dramatically reduced by changing the size of the refuse lorries and installing an electric monitoring system.

Despite paying out thousands of pounds in compensation, the council said it had not been called on to pay any solicitors’ or medical fees when dealing with claims in the last five years.

The spokeswoman also stressed there had been no injury claims from any incidents.

The breakdown for the five years was: 2009/10 total payout £3,509; 2010/11 £2,055; 2011/12 £1,013; 2012/13 £1,795; 2013/14 £1,734.

The spokeswoman said: “Insurance claims made in respect of alleged incidents with council vehicles are investigated and managed by the relevant insurance company.

“In recent years, the council has introduced a number of measures which have seen a reduction in such claims.

“The refuse vehicles have changed from a full width to a narrow track design which is smaller than a standard HGV and provides more room for manoeuvring in narrow streets and cul-de-sacs.

“An electronic tracking system is also installed in all refuse vehicles, enabling the service to identify where vehicles are at any time, which can provide invaluable information if a claim is made.”